Jump-starting early childhood education at home: early learning, parent motivation, and public policy

Jump-starting early childhood education at home: early learning, parent motivation, and public policy

Click the buttons to download the infographic and transcript!

Title: JUMP-STARTING EARLY CHILDHOODEDUCATION AT HOME: EARLY LEARNING, PARENT MOTIVATION, AND PUBLIC POLICY

Authors: Erin A Maloney, Benjamin A Converse, Chloe R Gibbs,Susan C Levine, Sian L Beilock (2015).

Journal: PerspectivesonPsychologicalScience,10(6), 727–732.https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615607064

WHAT WAS THE PURPOSEOF THIS ARTICLE?

Children’s learning experiences at home impact how well they do at school. With this in mind, we came up with policy suggestions to help caregivers get the most out of their children’s education at home.

WHAT CHALLENGES DID WE ADDRESS?

There is limited scientific evidence to support specific treatments

Parents don’t know about many of the simple ways they can help their children learn.

Parents often lose motivation and stop following through on their intentions to improve at-home learning.

WHAT DID WE RECOMMEND?

Based on research from cognitive and behavioural science, we offered three suggestions:

Promote the TEACH approach (i.e., Talk and interaction, Effort-based praise, Anxiety-free learning interactions, and CHallenging play) in existing educational support programs. Educate parents on best practices to promote learning experiences at home and provide role models. Help parents stay motivated by encouraging them to develop their own simple, actionable, goal-directed steps for improving at-home education.

Policy makers can apply these recommendations to the existing Head Start program by making simple changes to reporting and distributing information about at-home learning opportunities. Policymakers should also use new technologies to make it easier for people to learn at home.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

If implemented wisely, these efforts can support disadvantaged families and spark further research to promote success for students facing socio-economic barriers.

Brought to you by Dr. Erin Maloney’s Cognition and Emotion Lab at the University of Ottawa